TIMBAKTU COLLECTIVE:
 Site Visit: June 5, 2003.
 Madhav Ranganathan. (monx1@yahoo.com)

1. Earth day gathering at Roddam.
 Getting there: Bus from Bangalore to Penukonda (about 3 hours),
 bus from Penukonda to Roddam (45 mins).

 Roddam is a village of a few thousand people. The earth day fair
 was held in the school space. A space of about 30 m X 20 m was
 covered by a tent with a small stage up front. I got there around
 11:45 in the morning. There was a speech given by someone (since
 I don't know Telugu, I could not understand anything that was
 spoken). There were over 500 people in the main hall listening
 to the speaker.

 There were some stalls by the side of the stage
 where Timbaktu had a exhibits of local seeds, plants and some
 anti-war and anti-globalization posters. There were
 also some other local artisans and their products and there was
 food prepared from indigenous varieties of grains available for a
 really low price. There was also an organization called Dastakar
 from Hyderabad. I met Kalyani and Dinesh of Timbaktu there.

 Bablu spoke a few words saying how Anantpur district has become
 famous for droughts and it is essential to change the farming
 style if they want to have a good future.
 The function was supported by 13 other local organizations.
 Gram Panchayat and Village Elders, Roddam,
 Kalpavalli forest federation, Roddam,
 Sai Kala Mandali, Roddam,
 Valmiki Seva Sangham, Roddam,
 Madiga Yuvajana Seva Sangham, Roddam,
 Kaluva Gondigallu,
 Minority Commision, Roddam,
 Masons Union,
 Marpu Yuvakala Mandali, Roddam,
 Ananthashakthi Thrift Society, Roddam,
 Adishakthi Thrift Society, Roddam,
 Mahalakshmi Thrift Society, Roddam,
 Roddam Reporters.

 The dignitaries at the function were :
 1. Smarjit Ray: Special CS of AP for the next few months. He is
 from Penukonda and has been talking about alternative energy
 sources for the last 20 years. He also has land and a house in
 Timbaktu.
 2. Rajshekhar: District collector of Anantpur. He supported the
 cause of Dalits during cases of violence against them.
 3. A lady from Indian Forest service who supports environment
 activism.

 After the speech, the stalls were inaugurated and the main
 dignitaries were being shown around and given food. I walked
 around Roddam village and saw that Timbaktu Collective had an
 office there. The village seemed really crowded close to the bus
 stop but if one walked around, there were not too many people.
 The police station opposite the school where the fair was
 happening had been blasted the previous night by Naxalites. Some
 of the stones had made holes in the shamiana erected for the
 fair. There were a number of people who had gathered around the
 police station.

 The afternoon program began with some songs followed by a puppet
 show, and a long
 speech by Reddy, a farmer from Dodballapur (in Karnataka near
 Bangalore). Reddy has been supporting organic farming for many years
 and has been extremely succesful as a farmer. Around 4pm, there
 was a lot of excitement in the air as a stilted performer
 surrounded by other local performers. The troupe went all around
 the village to the beating of drums and was followed by a large
 number of people dancing and cheering them on. Essentially people
 were invited to the evening program. Bablu told me that there
 were going to be a number of cultural programs going late into the
 night. He said that about 30-50 years ago such programs were a regular
 feature of the village for various festivals, temple occasions, etc.
 Now, the only occasion for the village to get together was the
 environment day fair. This has been going on for the last 3
 years and local groups had taken over all the fundraising for
 this fair.
 He said that the school in which this fair was held had good
 teachers, but almost no facilities. Roddam is one village where
 development has not taken place in a long time.

 2. Timbaktu Collective:
 I went to Timbaktu with Bablu, his daughter and some
 children from the school around 7 pm in a Tata Sumo driven by
 Bablu. At Timbaktu, I was introduced to Mary and a blind
 volunteer( ?), Smarjit Ray, and Shastry, a professor from IIM
 Bangalore and a reporter. I went to talk to Subba who is in
 charge of the education program.

 Subba received his PhD in Mech E from IIT Mumbai. At IIT, he was
 involved with GRA, until he learnt of their pro RSS leanings. He
 joined Timbaktu immediately after his PhD. Timbaktu has one
 residential school and a few day schools in the nearby villages.
 Usually, the schools cater to students who are really poor. The
 residentially school caters to the worst among them, typically
 those who do not have parents or are subject to domestic abuse.
 The special feature of the Timbaktu school is the emphasis on
 crafts. Children spend equal time in academics and crafts.
 Usually they spend the mornings working on academic stuff and the
 afternoons on crafts. As part of the Learning Network, Timbaktu
 had conducted a crafts workshop for other organizations. They
 have about 50 children in the residential school. Right now they
 are very close to the stage at which the older children will be
 ready to earn. They are learning skills like electrician work,
 general maintenance work, farming, etc. In addition to earning
 money, they also take care of the maintenance work at Timbaktu.
 The vegetables and crafts made by the children were sold at the
 local markets and the profits were saved in bank accounts for the
 children. Subba thinks that if they work on the vegetable garden
 a little more, then they will have enough vegetables to feed
 Timbaktu, and then they will still have some to sell at the
 markets so that the children can have some savings.

 On the morning of the next day, Subba showed me around Timbaktu.
 The forest around were full of trees, but they were suffering for
 lack of water. In the landscape around I could get an idea of the
 work Timbaktu had been doing to preserve the forests. The three
 main activities conducted by Timbaktu are eco- restoration,
 women's empowerment, and schools.

 Subba showed me the hexagon hall, the classrooms, the kitchens, the new
 buildings, etc. The classrooms were all open classrooms, and
 they all had the thatched roofs. Since the school had not yet
 started after the summer, I did not get to see the classes. What
 was clear was that the children who were around really seemed to
 like the place. The water supply in Timbaktu consists of wells
 with hand-pumps fitted. There is solar powered electricity. A lot
 of emphasis is placed on water conservation. Subba showed me how
 they plan to use reuse the water 2-3 times in the new kitchen.
 After the children are done eating, they wash the plates with
 water and this water with the nutrients is fed to the animals,
 then the plants and so on.

 The total land owned by Bablu and others around Timbaktu is about
 16 acres. Part of this land is Timbaktu collective, a lot of it
 is not yet being used.

 Around 8 am, Bablu took me and Prof Shastry to the seeds of Hope
 project land. About 1/2 acre of land was sectioned off for this
 project. The seeds were stored in a nearby shed. There was a
 problem of wild boars in the area so they will have to take
 precautions. At this time, they are waiting for the rains so that
 the project can start. Bablu showed me a well where there was
 still some water despite no rain for the past 2 years. He showed
 me the way they were planning to channel water to the fields and
 the well so that it does not go waste. There was a plan to
 cultivate only about 1-2 acres of the entire land at the time I
 visited. Out of that about 1/2 acre was specifically for the
 seeds of hope experiment. Though this project has not yet started
 on the field, there has been a large amount of data and seed
 collection. There are some lands that are designated for dry
 farming.

 Return:
 Around 9 am, Kalyani and some other volunteers dropped me off at
 Penukonda on their way to Roddam and I returned to Bangalore.

 Concluding thoughts: Timbaktu is a truly remarkable place and all
 the activities going on there are really mind-blowing. They have
 shown willingness to spread their work to villages around. My
 visit was really short, so there is not too many details I could
 find out. The support for the environment day fair from local
 organizations is something that amazed me. The list of
 participating organizations seemed long for a town of the size of
 Roddam. I got the feeling that over the next few years, the
 finances of Timbaktu will go through some interesting changes, as
 their older children will start earning money and supporting
 themselves.